Dismissal Is Upheld In New Yorker Lawsuit

AP

Published: May 11, 1988

RICHMOND, May 10—
A Federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a libel suit against The New Yorker magazine brought by a man who said he was unfairly portrayed in an article about another libel case.

The man, Greg Rushford, a former congressional committee investigator, sued The New Yorker over an article by Renata Adler about Gen. William C. Westmoreland's libel suit against CBS News.

Mr. Rushford, a witness at the trial of General Westmoreland's suit, said the article unfairly portrayed him as being thought of by a judge as ''far out'' or a ''kook.''

Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. of Federal District Court dismissed Mr. Rushford's suit last year, saying the Adler article was ''no more than the author's opinion.''

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal Monday. ''There is nothing in the record before us from which we could infer malice,'' said the ruling by Judges Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., Kenneth K. Hall and James Dickson Phillips Jr. General Westmoreland's suit, which stemmed from a CBS documentary on his role in the Vietnam War, was settled out of court before its trial ended.